Rio tipped to boost profit to $4.9bn

RIO Tinto is expected to shrug off commodity price falls to lift profit by eight per cent to about $4.9 billion.

Greg Roberts

AAPAugust 6, 20147:26pm

THE world's number two miner Rio Tinto is expected to announce a strong lift in first half profit on Thursday but the success or otherwise of its debt busting efforts is less clear.

ANALYSTS expect net profit to almost triple to $US4.57 billion ($A4.94 billion) from least year's $US1.7 billion, when foreign exchange losses and a pit wall slide at a US copper mine ate into earnings.